Aaaaaaaargh!

You know, it’s like this EVERY SINGLE YEAR:

The Cybs open on the first of October. I’m ready. I’m focused. I’m determined.

…I choke.

Yes. I have tons of books I want to nominate, but I choke.

Why? Because you can only nominate one novel in every category.

How can I limit myself to ONE, when Habibi, the graphic novel by Craig Thompson, looks so good (That one might be a crossover and not eligible… must check… but still! So good!), and Flight of Angels (also maybe not YA) looks great, too? For Middle Grade SFF, should I nominate Phoenix & Fox or The Inquisitor’s Apprentice? for YA SFF should I nominate the dystophia-rescue-adventure novel, Blood Red Road, Carrie Vaughn’s Steel, or Welcome to Border Town or Coronets & Steel by Sherwood Smith, or The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson, or The Gathering, the first in a new trilogy by Kelly Armstrong? For YA Fiction, should I nominate Moonglass by Jessi Kirby, or go with the intriguing sounding historical Daughter of Xanadu by Dori Jones Yang, or try All the Earth, Thrown to Sky for boy-narrated Depression-era historical fiction instead?*

It is amazing and wonderful that there are so many great books.
It is amazing and wonderful that we have so many great books to tempt us, tantalize us, teach us, trip us out, drag our imaginations and senses into new dimensions, and to take us places where we’ve never been. We have the books of AWESOME in this time – it’s like the golden age of children’s lit, all over again.

SO, WHY IS IT ALWAYS SO HARD TO CHOOSE JUST ONE????

UPDATE: A little help: Charlotte has up a list of worthies not yet nominated, and Doret will have a list up next week at Color Online of worthies by and featuring people of color.

Have you not yet nominated? Are you a dork like me who ends up doing it the last day? The clock is ticking…ticking… ticking…eight days left…

*NB: when I pre-posted this Tuesday those titles were not nominated; they may be now. Double check before nominating! Also, full disclosure: I’m a Panel 1 Judge for SFF; A.F. is also a judge for Graphics. We are Professionals (Hah) around here, and still agonize over the nominating. You go and do better, kay? Thx.